Written Answers Friday 9 April 2010

Scottish Executive

Civil Partnerships

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for legislation permitting religious organisations to hold civil partnership ceremonies in religious premises, as is the case in England and Wales.

Kenny MacAskill: None.

Civil Partnerships

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the passing of the Equality Act 2010, what discussions it has had with faith leaders regarding civil partnership ceremonies in religious premises.

Kenny MacAskill: We have not had any formal discussions with faith leaders about civil partnership ceremonies in religious premises. However, we have received some representations from religious organisations about this topic.

Community Service Orders

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it holds centrally relating to timescales for commencement and completion of community service orders.

Kenny MacAskill: To allow progress to be measured in relation to the immediacy and speed with which offenders commence and complete their orders, we are currently conducting an audit of activity across Scotland. We will apply the findings of the audit to inform and reinforce our work with partner agencies to improve the delivery of Community Payback Orders. The results of a previous audit were lodged with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre on 24 April 2009 (Bib. number 47783).

Justice

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the findings of the Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts, 2008-09 statistical bulletin, how many incidents of non-sexual crimes of violence were committed in the Lothians region in each of the last three years, also broken down by (a) homicide, (b) serious assault and attempted murder, (c) robbery and (d) other crimes.

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the findings of the Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts, 2008-09 statistical bulletin, how many incidents of crimes of indecency were committed in the Lothians region in each of the last three years, also broken down by (a) rape and attempted rape, (b) indecent assault, (c) lewd and indecent behaviour and (d) other crimes.

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the findings of the Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts, 2008-09 statistical bulletin, how many incidents of crimes of dishonesty were committed in the Lothians region in each of the last three years, also broken down by (a) housebreaking, (b) theft by opening a lockfast place, (c) theft of/from motor vehicle, (d) shoplifting, (e) other theft, (f) fraud and (g) other crimes.

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the findings of the Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts, 2008-09 statistical bulletin, how many incidents of fire-raising, vandalism, etc were committed in the Lothians region in each of the last three years, also broken down by cases of (a) fire-raising and (b) vandalism etc.

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the findings of the Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts, 2008-09 statistical bulletin, how many incidents of other crimes were committed in the Lothians region in each of the last three years, also broken down by (a) crimes against public justice, (b) handling an offensive weapon, (c) drugs and (d) other crimes.

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the findings of the Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts, 2008-09 statistical bulletin, how many incidents of miscellaneous offences were committed in the Lothians region in each of the last three years, also broken down by (a) common assault, (b) breach of the peace, (c) drunkenness and (d) other crimes.

Kenny MacAskill: The available information is given in the following table.

  Persons with a Charge Proved by Main Crime/Offence1 in Lothians Region2, 2006-07 to 2008-09

  

Main Crime or Offence
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09



All crimes and offences
16,298
15,678
15,159


All crimes
5,599
5,589
5,580


Non-sexual crimes of violence
231
298
276


Homicide
0
0
0


Serious assault and attempted murder
124
187
160


 Robbery
61
73
71


Other
46
38
45


Crimes of indecency
81
73
65


Rape and attempted rape
2
0
0


Indecent assault
13
14
11


Lewd and indecent behaviour
33
25
28


Other
33
34
26


Crimes of dishonesty
2,572
2,537
2,462


Housebreaking
314
322
325


Theft by opening a lockfast place
121
116
115


Theft of/from a motor vehicle
137
175
131


Shoplifting
1,114
1,151
1,197


Other theft
453
406
366


Fraud
210
200
169


Other
223
167
159


Fire-raising, vandalism, etc
563
595
499


Fire-raising
32
41
32


Vandalism, etc
531
554
467


Other crimes
2,152
2,086
2,278


Crimes against public justice
812
833
886


Handling an offensive weapon
370
320
386


Drugs
928
904
964


Other
42
29
42


All offences
10,699
10,089
9,579


Miscellaneous offences
4,763
4,389
4,173


Common assault
1,834
1,811
1,763


Breach of the peace
2,153
2,039
1,896


Drunkenness
5
7
6


Other
771
532
508


Motor vehicle offences
5,936
5,700
5,406


Dangerous and careless driving
268
256
290


Drink/drug driving
1,050
1,079
987


Speeding
1,481
1,432
1,105


Unlawful use of vehicle
2,088
2,025
1,904


Vehicle defect offences
185
280
476


Other
864
628
644



  Notes:

  1. Excludes High Court cases which cannot be mapped to local authority areas.

  2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area.

Justice

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions took place against a licence holder for selling alcohol to people under 18 in 2008-09, broken down by local authority.

Kenny MacAskill: The available information is given in the following table.

  Persons Proceeded Against for Selling Alcohol to Persons Aged Under 181 by Approximate Local Authority Area2, 2008-09.

  

Local Authority
2008-09


Aberdeen City
8


Aberdeenshire
7


Angus
1


Argyll and Bute
5


Clackmannanshire
0


Dumfries and Galloway
10


Dundee City
5


East Ayrshire
7


East Dunbartonshire
1


East Lothian
7


East Renfrewshire
3


Edinburgh, City of
7


Eilean Siar
0


Falkirk
7


Fife
13


Glasgow City
13


Highland
6


Inverclyde
0


Midlothian
0


Moray
0


North Ayrshire
0


North Lanarkshire
22


Orkney Islands
0


Perth and Kinross
0


Renfrewshire
8


Scottish Borders
14


Shetland Islands
0


South Ayrshire
7


South Lanarkshire
31


Stirling
1


West Dunbartonshire
6


West Lothian
13


Scotland
202



  Notes:

  1. Where the main offence is under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 Sections 67, 68(1) & 68(7). The offence under section 68 covers Licence holders, their employees and agents.

  2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Four local authority areas, namely East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court.

Justice

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions of a licence holder for selling alcohol to people under 18 resulted in a conviction in 2008-09 and, of those convicted, what the average financial penalty was.

Mr Kenny MacAskill: There were 116 convictions in 2008-09 and the average fine was £244 where the main offence was under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 Sections 67 and 68. Offences under sections 67 and 68 cover Licence holders, their employees and agents; it is not possible to disaggregate these.

Justice

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many licence holders lost their licence for selling alcohol to people under 18 in 2008-09, broken down by local authority.

Kenny MacAskill: The following table gives the number of liquor licences suspended in 2007, the most recent year for which data is available.

  The data on suspensions do not include the reason for suspension and it is therefore not possible to identify whether suspensions are due to a particular offence.

  

Local Authority
Liquor Licences Suspended


Angus
1


Dundee City
1


East Ayrshire
2


East Lothian
2


Edinburgh, City of
3


Fife
5


Glasgow City
2


Highland
1


Moray
1


North Lanarkshire
4


Perth and Kinross
4


Stirling
1


West Lothian
2


Scotland
29



  Source: Data provided by local authority licensing boards to Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services.

  Notes:

  1. The legislation under which these licences were granted does not make provision for the revocation of a licence. Legislation was recently passed which does make such a provision and came fully into force on 1 September 2009.

  2. Transitional arrangements were in place from February 2008 pending the full implementation of the new legislation and data collection was suspended during this period to avoid unnecessary burden on local authorities.

  3. A data collection of liquor licensing statistics under the new legislation is currently being planned. We expect the first statistics to become available later in 2010.

Justice

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-16814 by Kenny MacAskill on 21 October 2008, how many test purchases of alcohol were carried out in 2009 in (a) on-sales and (b) off-sales premises, broken down by police force area.

Kenny MacAskill: The use of test purchasing is an operational decision for each police force. We understand that test purchasing is intelligence-led and deployed in premises with a perceived problem of sales of alcohol to those under the age of 18.

  The following table provides information on test purchases carried out in off-sales and on-sales obtained from the police based on the latest available returns.

  

Police Force Area
Off SalesTested
Off Sales1st Failure
Off Sales 2nd Failure
On Sales Tested
On Sales 1st Failure
On Sales 2nd Failure


Central
4
0
0
1
0
0


Fife
118
17
0
0
0
0


Grampian
41
6
1
10
8
1


Lothian and Borders
166
19
0
0
0
0


Northern
40
4
0
0
0
0


Strathclyde
363
43
0
3
0
0



  Note: Figures are not available for Dumfries and Galloway and Tayside Police Forces.

Justice

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-32153 by Kenny MacAskill on 17 March 2010, how many individuals were involved in cases of possession of obscene materials recorded by Lothian and Borders police in each local authority area in that force area in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2006-07, (d) 2007-08 and (e) 2008-09.

Kenny MacAskill: Information on the number of individuals involved in cases of possessing obscene material is not held centrally, only the number of crimes recorded. The number of crimes of possession of obscene materials recorded by Lothian and Borders police is given in the table below.

  Crimes of Possessing Obscene Material Recorded by Lothian and Borders Police

  

Local Authority
2004-2005
2005-2006
2006-2007
2007-2008
2008-2009


City of Edinburgh
6
158
123
137
138


East Lothian
0
10
5
23
13


Midlothian
0
15
59
27
16


West Lothian
10
62
27
37
37


Scottish Borders
0
33
14
17
11


Lothian and Borders
16
278
228
241
215

Justice

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive on what date it expects the Scottish Intelligence Co-ordination Unit (SICU) to relocate to the Scottish Crime Campus and how much it will cost to house the SICU in Livingston in the interim.

Kenny MacAskill: Subject to contract the first agency is expected to move into the Scottish Crime Campus during 2012 with full occupation expected by mid 2013. The order in which agencies move in has not yet been determined.

  The SICU is presently located in a building owned by Lothian & Borders Police. The annual cost of this accommodation inclusive of rent, rates, utilities, cleaning, repairs, general maintenance and secure parking is £100,000. In addition approximately £200,000 was spent on refurbishing the building.

Justice

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the benefits will be of locating the Scottish Intelligence Co-ordination Unit with other key crime-fighting agencies at the Scottish Crime Campus.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Crime Campus will provide purpose built accommodation for the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and its partner agencies responsible for tackling serious organised crime in Scotland. It will enable closer and more joined up working in the fight against Serious Organised Crime. The Scottish Intelligence and Co-ordination Unit is an integral part of SCDEA.

Justice

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on the Fingerprint Inquiry.

Kenny MacAskill: Estimated total expenditure on the Fingerprint Inquiry to 31 March 2010 is £3,399,400.

Justice

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected total costs are of the Fingerprint Inquiry.

Kenny MacAskill: Projected total cost of the Fingerprint Inquiry is £4,014,126, based on the total spend to date and projected future expenditure estimated by the Inquiry.

  In accordance with provisions of the Inquiries Act 2005, the actual expenditure after 31 March 2010 remains dependant on future decisions of the Inquiry Chair and may differ from the projected total.

Public Bodies

James Kelly (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review the performance of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.

Kenny MacAskill: We have no plans to carry out a review of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission at this time. It is too early to assess the effectiveness of the commission as it has only been operational since October 2008 and transitional processes remain ongoing.

  Under the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007, the commission is required to publish a report, as soon as practicable after the end of the financial year, reporting on the discharge of its functions in that year and such action as the commission proposed to take in the following year. Scottish Ministers laid their 2008-2009 Annual Report in the Scottish Parliament on 8 February 2010.

Public Bodies

James Kelly (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with representatives of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission since its inception and regarding what issues.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government has been in regular contact with the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission on a range of issues such as the appointment of board members, the publication of the Commission's annual report, the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill and the transitional arrangements for complaints relating to the time before the Commission’s inception. Such discussions have been conducted on the basis that the Commission is largely independent of Government in how it fulfils its statutory responsibilities.

Public Bodies

James Kelly (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost has been to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission of complaints that it has itself investigated.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission is responsible for setting its budget and any questions about its costs and spending should be directed to the Commission.

Public Bodies

James Kelly (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission has received from levies paid by the legal profession in 2009-10 and, of that income, how much has been spent on (a) running costs and (b) investigations.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission is responsible for setting the levy and any questions about this should be directed to the Commission.

Public Bodies

James Kelly (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission has a budget surplus.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission is responsible for setting its budget and any questions relating to this should be directed to the Commission.

Public Bodies

James Kelly (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive who monitors the expense claims of board members of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.

Kenny MacAskill: The Chief Executive of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission is the accountable officer and is responsible for ensuring the propriety and regularity of the finances of the Commission and questions relating to financial monitoring should therefore be referred to the Commission.

  The Commission is subject to audit by the Auditor General for Scotland and is required to lay the audited statement of accounts before the Scottish Parliament.

Public Bodies

James Kelly (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total amount of expenses paid to board members of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (a) was in 2008-09 and (b) has been in 2009-10.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission is responsible for setting its budget and questions about its spending should be addressed to the Commission.